1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally directed to a feeding device for infants and a method for weaning infants, especially premature neonates as well as post surgical infants and medically fragile infant patients, from non-oral tube feeding to oral feeding from a bottle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In many neonatal intensive care units, premature neonates first receive nutrition through a nasogastric or orogastric feeding tube, because these infants are incapable of coordinating the suck, swallow and breathe cycle required to receive oral nutrition. The transition from tube feeding to oral nutritive feeding is often quite traumatic. Infants are presented with a bottle and often the rate of liquid flow is too rapid for the infant to initiate a timely swallow in coordination with breathing. Consequently, these infants become distressed because they are overwhelmed by too much fluid being introduced at too high a flow rate and may gag, choke or aspirate. These infants are returned to a non-oral tube feeding regimen until a physician decides that it is time to attempt bottle feeding again. In some cases, this cycle continues to the detriment of the infants who may well develop aversions to oral feeding.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,790,016 (Kron) discloses an infant nursing device comprising a liquid chamber, a nipple, an air inlet passage for the chamber, a liquid metering-passage between the chamber and an exterior portion of the nipple and may include a pressure transducer or a differential transducer. The device may include a valve for opening and closing the liquid metering passage in response to sensed conditions. The nipple may be solid except for the liquid metering passage or hollow so long as the flow of liquid out of the nipple is not responsive to compression of the nipple.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,033,367 (Goldfield) discloses a smart bottle and system for neonatal nursing development. According to the Goldfield patent, the system can be used to diagnose or monitor the sucking/swallowing/breathing competence of an impaired neonate or post-operative infant. The system includes a liquid feeding valve which controls the supply of nutrients through a feeding nipple via a processor. The processor operates to restrict or close the valve when slowing or cessation of breathing is detected or acts as a training device to set or pace, or initially to develop basic sucking/swallowing/breathing competence. The processor is also operable to control liquid flow to a level appropriate to the available sucking activity or to change the flow rate to maintain a stable and non-slowing breath rate. The processor is further operable to display an output that reflects the infant's breathing so that a care giver can manually operate a pressure bulb to rhythmically activate a pressure operated stimulator in the nipple.